When I moved from London to Helsinki in 1982, I tuned in to the BBC World Service on my short-wave radio to listen to news in English. Over time, YLE, the Finnish national broadcasting company has developed an excellent FM radio station, YLE Mondo, which broadcasts news and programs not only from the UK’s BBC World Service but also in original languages from Spain, Italy, Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, and Estonia.
I’ve not only listened to BBC World Service, in 2008 I delivered ”Performance at the Limit, Business Lessons from Formula 1 Racing” keynote presentations in London at BBC World Service’s internal Technology Forum and then again at their Business Development Conference.
BBC World Service should not be confused with BBC World, which is the BBC’s international television broadcaster. It was with BBC World that my co-authors and I collaborated in 2007 to make “Formula for Success” an 8-part television series inspired by our book ‘Performance at the Limit.’
My wife and I often listen to BBC World Service’s wide range of programs and few weeks ago we heard Nikki Bedi, host of “The Arts Hour” announce they would be on tour in Helsinki in mid-June.
So, last week, we were in the audience as Nikki Bedi interviewed a variety of Finnish artists (singer-songwriters, author, stand-up comedian, actor) several of whom performed.
There was also a lively discussion with the audience about the current sentiment in Finland about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We wonder whether they will include my wife, Harriet’s, passionate comment that in the current circumstances Finns are not scared, rather since 1945 we have made sure to be prepared.
We look forward to listening to the show when it is aired on July 2nd, not least to see how they edit over two hours of programming into a one-hour time slot.